Episode 1478 (21 July 1997)
Synopsis Ted phones around looking for a new job, and is surprised by Sarah who comes downstairs unexpectedly. She says she thought he'd be at work already and he says he thought she would be at the refuge already. Ted invents a story about his employers being badly organised and moves swiftly on to ask about her. She says she is thinking of not bothering to go today, because she's made a mess of it. Ted persuades her not to give up and says she could be out there helping people instead of moping around at home, so she decides to go after all. The post arrives and Ted receives a telemessage containing important news. He visits Kathy in the cafe, but she's too busy to talk now. Simon's back and Tony is incredibly attentive and offers to take a day off work to spend with him. He later bumps into Lenny who asks how it's going and Tony says when he told Polly about Simon she freaked out, and Simon will probably take it even worse, so he doesn't want to tell him. Gita offers Simon the rest of the day off but he refuses. Gita and Sanjay are both sulking, and Gita tells Ruth the news that she's not pregnant, and they have a drink together. Ruth sees Kathy and tells her that Ben can have Lucy's place at the nursery as she has spoken to her manager about it. Kathy is getting fed up with Ian dumping Lucy on her all the time and Ian promises to sort it out, as he's interviewing some nannies from an agency later today. Peggy has her magistrates appearance and she gets a £250 fine and doesn't lose her licence. Peggy, Grant and Tiffany try to think of ways to improve business, and Tiffany reads a letter from the brewery about a darts league, so she as the idea to set up a ladies darts team. Pat happens to be in the pub, and she mentions she was once captain of a darts team, so Tiffany spends ages trying to persuade her to do it for the Vic. Pat pretends to be really busy and mentions that they'd have to practise a few nights a week, and have free drinks..... Tiffany looks a bit shocked then she realises they're winding her up, and Pat agrees to do it. She says she will be in charge, and says that Lorraine used to play too, so Tiffany’s face drops and immediately she says there must be lots of other candidates surely? Pat says she thought she was running it, so Tiffany says OK. Ricky goes to the speedway again, and turns out to be pretty good at it. Lenny is impressed and he goes to the Arches hassling Ricky to go again and telling him that he is really talented, and he should think about doing it properly - does he really want to be stuck in a garage all his life? Ricky says this is what's paying him, and he has to have it finished before Phil gets back, so he's too busy to talk. Lenny persuades him to go for a drink later to discuss it. Ricky says it's too expensive hiring the bike every week, and Lenny says they could save money by buying their own, and it would only be about £2,500. Ricky says it's too much, and Lenny says he has £500 he'll put up in return for being Ricky's manager, so Ricky just has to find the rest. He persuades Ricky that it's a great idea and he could have a great time doing this, and Ricky agrees to try to find the money, although he does worry that Bianca might notice he's doing an awful lot of "Community Service" hours. Lenny says it's almost the same - that is mending cars, this is just bikes instead.... Barry takes Vanessa to a "posh French restaurant." It's so posh that Barry can't read the menu, which is in French, and when the haughty waiter asks what they want to drink, Barry says cluelessly "a bottle of your finest red wine" and the waiter looks at him with disdain and says "Which one?" Vanessa asks about one of the dishes on the menu in pidgin French "c'est cuit en beurre ou huile?" and impresses Barry. The waiter goes away while they are making up their mind and Barry looks uncomfortable. Vanessa says the waiter is a pratt, and not to take any notice of him, then shows her real class as she breaks into a broad cockney accent and tells Barry she comes from a horribly common area of London. She taught herself to speak with a decent accent and learnt French because she wanted to better herself. They have a bottle of champagne and get on really well, then say that they don't really like the restaurant, and Barry suggests they go for an Indian instead. Vanessa agrees, and summons the haughty waiter with "Oi mush!" Lorraine is back, and Joe invites Sarah and Nigel over for a meal to celebrate. As Joe walks Sarah over, they say how happy they are and tell each other how their respective lives are going really well at the moment. Unfortunately Joe screws up the cooking and they end up in the Vic having to buy their meal there. Grant looks on enviously as Lorraine chats to Nigel and tells him that she has two job interviews lined up. Meanwhile, Ted visits Kathy and tells her that he lost his job, and it's a strain pretending to go to work every day to Sarah. Kathy is annoyed and asks how he lost it and berates him for being rude to the manager, and says he is supposed to be paying off his loan and how will he do that without a job. Ted says that if she lets him finish, he has another one, and he has just heard. Unfortunately it's in Dubai and he needs the airfare to get there, but it's very good money once he's there, and he could pay it all back from this contract, whereas it will take him years if he stays around here taking low-paid jobs. Also, he could come back after a year or two, it won't be forever. Kathy agrees, and asks what about Tony and Sarah. Ted says Tony probably won't even notice. Kathy says Sarah could come and stay with them she supposes. Ted hastily says "oh, no, she's coming with me." Kathy and Ted have a huge argument about how he's deciding her life without even telling her, and always telling her lies, and Kathy finishes with the observation that Sarah will hate him for it if he screws up her life yet again, and this time she will never forgive him. Annie goes to see Max at the paper. She slaps the photo of Dixon on the desk and says he's not very happy. Max says "why, not his good side eh?" Max says his reporters were just doing their jobs. Annie tells him to stick to garden fetes and golden weddings, which irritates Max, who tells her not to tell him how to do his job. Annie says that if he carries on he won't have it for long - she knows all about him being sacked and the job here won't last long if it gets out. Max says people like her make him sick, and she then adds that it will be very difficult for him to get another job at his age if he loses this one, and his family will suffer too won't they? Max tells her not to threaten his family, and shows her the door. Annie says that being tough doesn't suit him, and "those two" are a liability, so he'd better get rid of them. By the end of the week. Credits Main cast *Brian Croucher as Ted *Gillian Taylforth as Kathy *Barbara Windsor as Peggy *Ross Kemp as Grant *Martine McCutheon as Tiffany *Daniela Denby-Ashe as Sarah *Paul Nicholls as Joe *Jacqueline Leonard as Lorraine *Paul Bradley as Nigel *Mark Homer as Tony *Andrew Lynford as Simon *Paul Moriarty as George *Nadia Sawalha as Annie *Deepak Verma as Sanjay *Shobu Kapoor as Gita *Caroline Paterson as Ruth *Pam St. Clement as Pat *Dean Gaffney as Robbie *Sid Owen as Ricky *Desune Coleman as Lenny *Richard Elis as Huw *Shaun Williamson as Barry *Adele Salem as Vanessa *Adam Woodyatt as Ian *Alan Hunter as Max *Stephen Tremblay as Waiter Category:Episode Category:1997 Episodes